Turner takes eighth as sailors struggle with flat conditions

Ireland’s Nicole Turner was in action in her fourth final of the Games tonight, and finished eighth overall in a time of 5.54.61.

Turner had advanced to tonight’s final in sixth place in a Personal Best time of 5:51.99, however, an evacuation of the Ireland team building during her break left the 14-year-old with limited rest between races and she posted a time of 5:54.61 in the final: “The fire alarm started going off and woke me from my sleep, we all had to evacuate the building and weren’t allowed back in so I didn’t really get much sleep. It was pretty hard but I’m happy (with the swim) I’m pretty tired now and looking forward to a day off tomorrow.”

World record holder in the S6 400m Freestyle Yelyzaveta Moreshko of Ukraine won Gold in the event in 5:17.01, a Paralympic Games record, China’s Lingling Song took Silver in 5:21.37 while London 2012 Gold medallist in the event Ellie Smmonds had to settle for Bronze in 5:24.87.

Turner has two events remaining, the 100m Breaststroke on Thursday and the 100m Freestyle on Saturday: “I’m excited about them, they’re my favourite events so I’m looking forward to that.”

The Irish sailing team were back in action today in Race Three of the Sonar class and after a wait to get the race underway to due to light wind conditions, finished in 12th place on the day to put them in 13th position overall.

The team of John Twomey, Ian Costelloe and Austin O’Carroll got off to a good start and passed mark one in the Sonar class in 11th place. However, in tough conditions, a slower leg from the Irish saw them pass mark two in 13th place. Halfway to mark three they pushed up to ninth position but were unable to hold on and passed through the third mark in 13th place.

Speaking afterwards, 11-time Paralympian Twomey described the tricky race; “It was not as good as we’d like; but it was tough out there. All the fleet were up and down - it was all over the place. It was very tough but it’s the same for everybody, so you got to go with what you got.”

O’Carroll explained the challenge of competing in flat conditions explaining: “As a sailor, the whole idea is that there’s wind around the course, and you have to spot it and chase it. Sometimes you see it and you go with it, then other times you think you are going towards it and next thing it disappears on you.”

With the fourth race being cancelled due to today’s flat conditions, Costelloe was not fazed by today’s performance: “It’s just a lottery out there. Hopefully we’ll come back tomorrow and move up the ladder a bit.”

Tomorrow, day seven, is a very busy day for Team Ireland, with road cycling kicking off from 12pm (Irish time) which will see seven bikes in action for the Emerald Isle. Meanwhile, Pat O’Leary will make his Paralympic debut in the KL3 200m canoeing heats, Seán Baldwin will be competing in the R6 50m Rifle Prone qualifier, while Ellen Keane will be swimming for success in the SB8 100m Breaststroke heats. The Sonar sailors will also be back on the water for the third day and aiming to rise up the rankings during the course of the day.